Barbara Freethy
Freethy, Barbara - ASK MARIAH (Avon - 1997) (3+)
Joanna Wingate is restless and bored with her life. When she is asked to teach the first-grade summer school class, she accepts. Although she is a professor and usually teaches eighteen-year-olds, she thinks this might be a good change.
Michael Ashton has twin six-year-old daughters, Lily and Rose. When his wife died the year before, they stopped talking to him because they had to keep their mother's secret. Although they knew she had gone to heaven, they kept expecting her to come back home. They ask Mariah (a toy crystal ball) what they should do, and Mariah tells them they should go to school. They protest loudly until they see their new teacher. What a surprise! She looks just like their mother.
Joanna knows there is an attraction between her and Michael, but is it because she resembles his ex-wife or for herself? When she finds her mother burning some papers in her father's study, her curiosity is sparked and she begins to wonder why she doesn't look like her parents. Will all the family secrets be revealed, and what will the consequences be?
ASK MARIAH is primarily a family story, but there is also a sweet, satisfactory romance, along with the adventures of the mischievous twins and their grandparents. The characters are all likable and share equal billing in the story. Ms. Freethy writes seamlessly to make this novel a fast and delightful read, adding just a touch of magic to enhance the story. I have also enjoyed Ms. Freethy's other books, DANIEL'S GIFT and RYAN'S RETURN, and would recommend them as well. ~Marilyn H. (mlyn@jps.net)
Freethy, Barbara - ONE TRUE LOVE (Avon - 1998) (4+)
A well-written contemporary love story is one of my most favorite
reads, and Barbara Freethy's latest offering does not disappoint. Using a format that includes pertinent background information in
detailed flashbacks, ONE TRUE LOVE is a meaty novel that offers readers a story within a story. The plot revolves around two childhood friends whose lives, once completely entwined, have
been disrupted by dual tragedies.
In an attempt to escape the crushing emotions that threatened to overwhelm her, Lisa Alvarez ran away from her home, her marriage, and most of the associations in her life, to begin anew in Los Angeles. Eight years later, content working as an advertising account executive, she is engaged to an ambitious, but shallow man, who is twenty years her senior. Raymond and Lisa have built a comfortable, emotionally safe life together; however, he has no idea who Lisa really is under the polished exterior she presents to the world. He has even less knowledge of the personal demons from which she had run away.
Receiving an hysterical phone call from her distraught friend Maggie, Lisa is forced to go home at last. This phone call sets a chain of events in motion that have the potential to change the course of their lives. Maggie has three young children, and in the year since her husband's death in a lab explosion, she still hasn't come to terms with losing him. A letter sent to her dead husband, hinting at an intimate relationship he may have had with a woman Maggie has never heard of, precipitated the emotional call to Lisa. Her sanity is literally hanging by a thread when she calls on Lisa to care for her family, so she can track down the elusive woman and put her own demons to rest.
The author has skillfully woven two intense stories into one book, which worked well for me. I grieved along with the couple who had been faced with a parent's worst nightmare. I smiled at the thread of magic hinted at in the story. My pulse quickened when it seemed that Maggie was a heartbeat away from finding out that her beloved husband may not have been the man she thought he was, and I shed a tear or two at the tender moments that were sprinkled throughout the book. If you enjoy losing yourself in a multi-layered contemporary drama and feeling an emotional tug or two at the same time, pick up a copy of ONE TRUE LOVE. ~Connie Ramsdell for Bookbug on the Web
Freethy, Barbara - SWEETEST THING, THE (Avon - 4/99) (4)
THE SWEETEST THING offers readers both a modern-day love story and, through dream sequences, a compelling parallel tale set in the past. Not an easy task, but Ms. Freethy pulls it off nicely.
Faith Christopher had been abandoned shortly after birth and raised in foster homes. She'd always longed for a family of her own, but those hopes were dashed with her fiancé's untimely death. Two years have now passed and her dead fiancé's brother Ben, for compelling reasons of his own, is offering to revive her dream of becoming part of a real family. She has only to say yes to his surprising proposal of marriage. Even though Faith doesn't love him (and senses that he doesn't love her), she is almost ready to take the plunge. This lovely, lonely lady wants to believe that a marriage based on friendship and shared goals can be fulfilling if it will bring her closer to her real heart's desire—a home and children. What Faith has yet to realize, however, is that fate doesn't care about the plans of mere mortals and will soon take a hand in her future.
It had started out to be quite an ordinary day. The sun was shining, the birds were singing and all seemed right with the world. That atmosphere quickly changed when a sudden gust of wind—a wind that seemed to come from nowhere—blew a disheveled, elderly man in through the front door of Faith's bakery. The visitor, Julian Carrigan, had just begun to tell a fascinating story about lost loves, broken Anasazi pots, and a family curse when his hapless grandson, Alex, erupted through the same door. After having spent years building a safe and successful, albeit isolated, life for himself, in one very trying 24-hour period Alex found he had become the caretaker to not just one, but two colorful relatives. When authorities told him earlier in the day that he had little choice about taking in his out-of-work, eccentric grandfather, Alex concluded that his life was about to become a real challenge. The real topper had come just two hours ago, however, when he'd been told that the foul-mouthed, prepubescent girl he now has in tow appears to be his long lost, now homeless, daughter.
Romance was the farthest thing from Alex's mind when he finally tracked the wandering Julian to Faith's bakery, but even in his agitated state, he recognized something special in the flame-haired beauty hovering protectively over his grandfather. This very lonely man will soon have a chance to find out just what that special something is when everyone in this rather eccentric cast of characters is reluctantly pulled into a quest for answers—answers to puzzling and strangely threatening questions that have lain dormant for decades. In the end though, everyone may just find a place to belong, a place within a unique family that each of them desperately needs.
While this story has paranormal elements and deals with a socially sensitive issue that isn't fully revealed until the end of the book, the heart of THE SWEETEST THING lies within several different tales of redeemed lives and soul-deep, abiding love. Ms. Freethy has again done a wonderful job of crafting an intriguing plot line and peopling it with fully developed characters that have all of the flaws and foibles common to human beings. A few of the twists and turns that occur are rather unusual in the typical romance novel, but if you like well-written, contemporary love stories, give this book a try. Grab a croissant, pull up a comfy chair and prepare to be entertained as you dive into this unique tale. ~Connie Ramsdell for Bookbug on the Web
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